Acknowledging Reality

[Catshooter]

Man, that is totally awesome and I am sooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo ooooo glad to hear of such great progress!!

As I started reading your post I thought: "I kinda wish he'd show us some pics of this much discussed shop." !! I'm off to Special Projects to look and drool.


Cat

[theperfessor]

MaryB, if you lived close I'd be glad to find the time to give you a little help. None of it is rocket surgery or brain science or whatever. I am convinced that almost anyone that is mechanically inclined, can read a mike, and can understand a few basic principles of material removal can learn to run a lathe or milling machine. Motivated people with a purpose for learning seem to progress faster. And when you can't figure out what to do you ask for help and a lot of people will help you, both here and on other machining related sites. We all had to cut our first piece, and a lot of us threw it out and did better on our second piece...

One of these days I'll do a photo guided tour of the facility, its only 24' x 30'-8". It's full of machinery now and will be even more crowded next Spring when I install the TM1 CNC mill. We had to clean up shop and dispose of everything unrelated to making parts or there would be no room to work in. The only exception is my lead supply and casting equipment.

[MaryB]

I have done some basic milling in copper making small square cavities for preamps for antennas. Very high performance preamps that sell for $200 each. But no critical dimensions really. Just mil the space into a copper block with a drill press and a cross slide vice and measuring as I go. For those .05 tolerance is plenty.

[BrassMagnet]

I want to see the air pistol range.

[waynem34]

Hey guy hope all is good.Get well soon.

[MaryB]

Copper is really fun to work, stuff grabs, I ripped a 4 inch square block out of the cross slide vice not to long ago and tossed it across the shop. No damages other than a dent in the lawn mower and my sanity, plus some ding on the block that were not critical. Now copper heat spreaders in amplifiers and the ones I use under thermoelectric chips have to be perfectly flat. I send those out to a local machine shop to be prepped after drilling and tapping holes.

[snuffy]

Kieth, I'm so glad to hear that the new prosthesis is working out so well. Just know that I'm always thinking of you and praying for how you're doing.

Thanks for the progress report.

[MtGun44]

Keith,

Check out the article in the Nov 2014 issue of Smithsonian magazine. It is on new gen
powered prostheses, the key name is Huge Herr at MIT.

http://www.biom.com/patients/biom-t2-system/

http://www.media.mit.edu/people/hherr

Bill

[theperfessor]

BrassMagnet - Now that we have the shop cleaned up I'm hoping to find a place where I can set up a pellet trap and give that Gamo air pistol you sent me a good workout. I'll start a thread when I do.

MaryB - Pure copper is a dog of a material to work with. It is gummy and grabby and just plain nasty. Brass and bronze is great stuff to machine, but not copper. There are a few free machining grades available but they might not meet all the other requirements of your product.

I am at the point of wearing my gel sleeve, padded socks, and prosthetic foot pretty much all day now. I can't be up on it all the time but I can wear it and get used to it and pretty much ignore it until I have to walk. I can take prosthesis off easily for when I sit down for long periods, but I still leave the sleeve and socks on to keep stump from swelling. I have a few aches and pains from time to time, but I'm learning how to keep prosthesis snug to minimize pressure on end of stump when standing, this keeps pain level down. The idea is that a stump should be a hydraulic component that confines fluid within a meat bag, and when pressure is applied to the bottom of the bag the pressure is distributed to provide even support. If it isn't snug the force is applied to the end of the tibia where it was cut and causes a fairly sharp pain.

I can tell my stump is still shrinking; it takes more sock thicknesses to fit snugly. I start out in the morning with a five layer sock and now add a three and often one or more single layer socks as the day progresses. The more I am up on my feet the more fluid I lose and the more socks I have to wear. It's no problem and part of learning to adapt to my new normal.

I have an appointment next week with my prosthetist. He has several methods available to adapt current prosthesis to my getting-smaller stump. and to pad some areas that seem to be causing some pressure.

All in all I'm in far better shape today than I was a year ago or even 4 months ago. I would not have made a different decision four months ago knowing what was to happen. I have no regrets and no recriminations, just a desire to continue improving myself, enjoy life and grow my business.

[Lance Boyle]

Glad your life is getting back to (a new) normal. Hope your mending is smooth Perfesser!

[BrassMagnet]

A great attitude isn't everything, but it sure is close!
I'm glad to hear things are going well.

[tomme boy]

Keith, how does that quad cane work for you. My Doc just told me to go get one instead of a regular one.